What to expect as 16 teams square off at high school tackle football state championships in Atlanta

Georgia High School Association’s tackle and flag football championships begin Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. GPB is your exclusive home for live TV coverage of every game.

GPB Sports’ Jon Nelson helps break down the important storylines in this year’s tackle football competition.

TRANSCRIPT

Orlando Montoya: Great to have you here again, Jon.

Jon Nelson: Good to be with you, my friend.

Orlando Montoya: I know we’re talking about flag football elsewhere on GPB radio, so let’s focus on the tackle on this program. I’d like to start with favorites and favorites. Would you include the defending champions, Milton?

Jon Nelson: I would. Milton, because of reclassification, they are now in the 5A class and so they’re chasing after a championship in 5A,  I would have them as a favorite. I would also have Bowden in Class A Division two who are the defending, defending champions. So they’re chasing after a three-peat. There’s a lot of new faces here as well, and some familiar folks who have been to the last game of the year. But those would be the two that are chasing after adding in a consecutive way.

Orlando Montoya: And in underdogs. Could you include the first team in a while to make the championship from Bibb County? That would be Northeast High School.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, Northeast High School. They have an alum as their head coach and they have one of the most prolific rushers in the state. And Nick Woodford, who is averaging, I want to say 350 yards a game. So their championship game is against Toombs County, who’s going to be coming in from Lyons, the top-ranked team in Toombs County against the prolific rusher Northeast Macon. That is going to be some smash-mouth football coming out of Bibb County. And that’s just a small sample of it all.

Orlando Montoya: And we have midweek midday games again, which are not very popular with parents and fans. Can you explain that decision and how can people work around it?

Jon Nelson: Well, it was something out of necessity because with the Atlanta Falcons possibly needing to be flexed if they were successful, it’s something that you have to prepare for and in a contingency. So if that game was to be flexed out to a Sunday night game, it’s about flipping the building over and getting all the signage and everything.

Orlando Montoya: So we’re talking Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, Mercedes-Benz Stadium so it’s not just, you know, like an internal venue or something like that. All of the signage, all of the paint that has to be done. All of those kinds of contingencies for that. And then if, say, Atlanta United in years past like they have chasing after a championship, you need to have that building ready for a weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So the GHC went to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It was like, okay, well, what if we do this and we do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday after? So you get a couple of extra days to prepare for a championship game on the other end of that.

Orlando Montoya: And we know high school football plays an important role in Georgia communities and certainly in the lives of those participating. But for the casual football fan, what’s to recommend about these three days?

Jon Nelson: It’s the Super Bowl. It’s the Super Bowl, It’s the Daytona 500. It’s the five-ring circus. I mean, literally pick your Olympic venue. It is. It is the coronation. And 99.9% of these student-athletes will not have the opportunity to play this game in college. And you’re playing in a world-class venue that had the Southeast Conference championship and is going to have the national championship for college. All these different things in this venue that has housed so many different things. You get all of these schools, flag football and tackle football that get to be in there and play.

Orlando Montoya: And I might add, a lot of these players might be going to Georgia or some college program.

Jon Nelson: Yeah, and you’d have that opportunity. If you’re in the SEC, you could play an SEC title game. You play, you make your way through the CFP 12 and you could be playing in the venue. So it’s all there.

Orlando Montoya: Alright. You can watch the Georgia High School Football Championship games live on GPB-TV or stream the games online at GPB.org or through the GPB sports app. Follow GPB Sports on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube for more information. Jon, as always, it’s been a pleasure.

Jon Nelson: Good to see you, my friend.